Faithfulness In Prayer

Ever since we were dating Robin and I have had the habit of ending our day by reading from the Bible and praying together. Right now we are in the New Testament and last night we started reading 1 Thessalonians. In the second verse of the first chapter Paul writes:

“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers”

Paul goes on to say why it is that he prays for the Thessalonian Christians but those words, “all of you, constantly” stuck in my head. They reminded me of the people we pray for together, by name, nearly every day. They include:

Our children

Our grandchildren

Our parents

People from our community living in care facilities.

People from our community who struggle with addiction.

A number of people we either know, or are aware of, who are dealing with hard situations that we know will last for a very, very long time.

Other people and situations come and go from our prayer together, but these are people we feel led to lift to the Lord over and over and over.

Sometimes the ways in which we pray for them are specific, such as for things in the lives of our children still living at home. Other times we are just naming them before God, trusting that he knows the best way to be involved in that person’s life. And Robin and I do trust that in all things God knows what is best, and that if he acts it will be to advance his purposes. Our prayers may align with his purposes, but they may not. God always knows best and acts according to his perfect knowledge.

There are times when we know that prayer has been answered, and we thank God for what he has done. But other times, many times, we are waiting for the answers. While we wait we continue to pray.

It is our part to be faithful in prayer. It is God’s part to bring the answers.

 

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.